Monday, March 19, 2012

TAOBAO Haul #1: March

With a few days before mah birthday. . .

My package is here! OMG! That was so fast! Hurray for next day delivery. . . Nuff said about paying for shipping that I could've gotten at a much lower, cheaper price if I chose another courier. . . My schedule has been pretty uncertain so I was undecided on whether I'd have the items shipped or pick 'em up via meet up. I have only done one meet up before and that was way, way back in 2007, I think? And I resorted to having things shipped out instead. The only concern I have for couriers is that there are times when items get manhandled?

I haven't really purchased anything off of Taobao before since I was having troubles looking for an agent. But I am not a newbie when it comes to Shopping Services, considering that I have dealt with quite a few agents but they were for my packages from Korea and Japan.

I literally spent hours and hours looking at different shops in Taobao, narrowing down my list of would be purchases. If only I wasn't such a cheapskate, then I would've splurged more on purchases. There's still a lot more stuff on my list that I haven't crossed out yet: Creepers, Boots . . . ahh the list goes on and on and on. . .

Here's a quick peek at what i've purchased. . . I barely got a pic of the package LOL! I was that excited

Very neat and organized. . .

My favorite purchases! The irony of buying these two at the same time, was pure coincidence. I was determined to purchase the Harry Potter Planner and the Twilight pencil case when I first saw it. But I didn't really realize at first that the pencil case is a Twilight Merchandise. I just liked it for what it was: a pencil case.

Taobao Manila Service Review:

Service Charge:

Reasonably priced. The service charge might seem a bit expensive but
considering that they would be lugging all your stuff themselves in a
plane to bring it to Manila makes the fee worth the money. But if you
are still mooning over the 35% and 50% fee then you have the 10% fee option, but you have to pay for the international shipping and there's the possibility that you'd be required to pay for customs taxes, which is equal to a lot of headache. Besides, they check the items to make sure you'd get your money's worth.

Communication:

Fast replies!!!!!!! Very accomodating and helpful when it comes to inquiries and things about purchases and questions you may have about Taobao. And, very patient, most especially with me being so kulit and fickle minded (re: shipping/meet-up). Besides that, your updates doesn't stop after you've made your payment. They would STILL message you afterwards about your items/package so you'd be on track. They even post photos of your items so you'd have an idea on how the stuff you've ordered looks like. No need to pester them for the status and especially for the tracking number.

Packaging/Handling:

Everythings been packed and arranged inside the box with care. There are sticky notes with the name of the person who purchased the item, most certainly to make sure that things won't get mixed up with other customers purchases. Items arrived in perfect condition.

Shipping:

Perfect score for both Taobao Manila and LBC. The former for shipping out the package at the soonest possible time and for trusting me with the shipping fee. Not everyone would've done that. And for that extra brownie points.

For LBC, despite being quite an expensive courier service, I can say that the money was well paid. Who could argue with such fast delivery time! I received it immediately!!! It's been shipped out for barely even a day and I already have it!

Overall Verdict:

First transaction was a success. Thank you Taobao Manila for being of great service to us Taobao lovers. Hoping that I'd be able to participate in the next ETA again!